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Halloween (film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher horror film directed and scored by , co-written with producer , and starring and in her film debut. The film was the first installment in what became the Halloween franchise. Halloween was produced on a budget of $325,000 and grossed $47 million at the box office in the United States, equivalent to nearly $240 million as of 2012, becoming one of the most profitable independent films. Many critics credit the film as the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by 's Psycho (1960). Halloween had many imitators and originated several clichés found in low-budget horror films of the 1980s and 1990s. Unlike many of its imitators, Halloween contains little graphic violence and gore. In 2006, it was selected for preservation in the United States by the as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Some critics have suggested that Halloween may encourage sadism and misogyny by identifying audiences with its villain.Mick Martin and Marsha Porter (1986). Video Movie Guide 1987. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 60. ISBN 0-345-33872-3. Other critics have suggested the film is a social critique of the immorality of youth and teenagers in 1970s America, with many of Myers's victims being sexually promiscuous substance abusers,Tony Williams, "Trying to Survive on the Darker Side: 1980s Family Horror, " in Barry K. Grant, ed., The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996), pp. 164 – 165, ISBN 0-292-72794-1. while the lone heroine is depicted as innocent and pure hence her survival (however, the lone survivor is seen trying to smoke marijuana in one scene, but she didn't like it). Carpenter dismisses such analyses.Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest, documentary on Divimax 25th Anniversary Edition DVD of Halloween (1978; Troy, Mich.: Anchor Bay, 2003)Carpenter, quoted in Alan Jones, The Rough Guide to Horror Movies (New York: Rough Guides, 2005), p. 102, ISBN 1-84353-521-1. Several of Halloween's techniques and plot elements, although not founded in this film, have nonetheless become standard slasher movie tropes. Plot On Halloween night, 1963, in Haddonfield, Illinois, 6-year-old Michael Myers (Will Sandin) murders his older teenage sister Judith Myers (Sandy Johnson), stabbing her repeatedly with a butcher knife after she had sex with her boyfriend. Fifteen years later, on October 30, 1978, Michael escapes the hospital in Smith's Grove, Illinois where he had been committed since the murder, stealing the car that was to take him to a court hearing. The following day – Halloween – in Haddonfield, high school student Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is stalked by Michael, who is now dressed in blue coveralls and a white mask, appearing outside her class window and driving past her on the street. Informing her friends, Annie (Nancy Kyes) and Lynda (P.J. Soles), they dismiss her concerns. Later at her house, Laurie becomes startled and unnerved to see Michael outside in the yard staring into her room. Meanwhile, Michael's primary psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasance), anticipated Michael's return home and goes to the local cemetery, finding that Judith Myers' headstone is missing. Later on, Loomis approaches Annie's father, Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers), and the two quietly look for Michael. That night, Laurie babysits a boy named Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews), while Annie babysits a girl named Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards) across the street from the Doyle house. When Annie gets a call from her boyfriend, Paul, to pick him up, she takes Lindsey to the Doyle house. Annie gets in her car to pick up Paul but has her throat slashed by Michael, who was hiding in the backseat of her car. At the Doyle house, while he plays hide-and-seek with Lindsay, Tommy spots Michael carrying Annie's body and tries to tell Laurie, who believes he saw the "boogeyman". Later, Lynda and her boyfriend, Bob, enter the Wallace house and head to the bedroom, where they have sex. While downstairs to get a beer for Lynda, Michael impales Bob on the wall with a kitchen knife and heads upstairs pretending to be Bob in ghost attire. Gaining no response from him, Lynda suspects something is wrong and calls Laurie, just as Michael strangles her with the telephone cord. Feeling unsettled, Laurie puts the kids to bed and heads over to the Wallace house, only to find Annie's body with Judith Myers' missing headstone and Lynda and Bob dead nearby. Suddenly, Laurie is attacked by Michael and falls backwards down the staircase. Fleeing the house, she screams for help, but to no avail. Running back to the Doyle house, she realizes she lost the keys and the door is locked, as she sees Michael approaching in the distance. Laurie panics and screams for Tommy to wake up and open the door quickly. Luckily, Tommy opens the door in time and lets Laurie inside. Laurie instructs the children to hide and then realizes the phone line is dead and that Michael has gotten into the house through a window. As she sits down in horror next to the couch, Michael appears and tries to stab her, but she counterattacks his move, stabbing him in the side of his neck with a lingering knitting needle. Believing he's dead, Laurie goes upstairs telling Tommy and Lindsey she killed the "boogeyman", but Michael reappears in pursuit of her. Ordering the kids to hide and lock themselves in the bathroom, Laurie opens a window to feign escape and hides in a bedroom closet. Not gullible, Michael tares open a hole in the closet door to get to her. However, Laurie frantically undoes a clothes hanger to stick Michael in the eye, causing him to drop his knife which Laurie obtains to stab him. Michael collapses and Laurie exits the closet carefully before urging the kids to go call for help. Dr. Loomis sees Tommy and Lindsey running away from the house and suspects Michael could be inside. Back inside, Michael gets up and tries to strangle Laurie, but Dr. Loomis arrives in time to save her and shoot Michael in the head, then five more times in the chest for a total of six shots. Michael falls from the second-story patio onto the lawn below. Laurie asks Loomis if that was the "boogeyman", to which Loomis says it was. When Dr. Loomis looks over the balcony, he finds Michael's body is missing. With Laurie sobbing, the movie ends speculating Michael could be anywhere, with the sound of Michael's heavy breathing in the background. Production After viewing Carpenter's film Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) at the Milan Film Festival, independent film producer Irwin Yablans and financier sought out Carpenter to direct a film for them about a psychotic killer that stalked babysitters.Behind the Scenes at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. In an interview with Fangoria magazine, Yablans stated, "I was thinking what would make sense in the horror genre, and what I wanted to do was make a picture that had the same impact as The Exorcist."Irwin Yablans, Fangoria interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. Carpenter and his then-girlfriend Debra Hill began drafting a story originally titled The Babysitter Murders, but, as Carpenter told Entertainment Weekly, Yablans suggested setting the movie on Halloween night and naming it Halloween instead.Carpenter, Entertainment Weekly interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. Akkad agreed to put up $300,000 for the film's budget, which was considered low at the time; (Carpenter's previous film, Assault on Precinct 13, had an estimated budget of $100,000). Akkad worried over the tight, four-week schedule, low budget, and Carpenter's limited experience as a filmmaker, but told Fangoria, "Two things made me decide. One, Carpenter told me the story verbally and in a suspenseful way, almost frame for frame. Second, he told me he didn't want to take any fees, and that showed he had confidence in the project". Carpenter received $10,000 for directing, writing, and composing the music, retaining rights to 10 percent of the film's profits.Moustapha Akkad, Fangoria interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. Because of the low budget, wardrobe and props were often crafted from items on hand or that could be purchased inexpensively. Carpenter hired Tommy Lee Wallace as production designer, art director, location scout and co-editor. Wallace created the trademark mask worn by Michael Myers throughout the film from a Captain Kirk mask purchased for $1.98. Carpenter recalled how Wallace "widened the eye holes and spray-painted the flesh a bluish white. In the script it said Michael Myers's mask had 'the pale features of a human face' and it truly was spooky looking. I can only imagine the result if they hadn't painted the mask white. Children would be checking their closet for William Shatner after Tommy got through with it." Hill adds that the "idea was to make him almost humorless, faceless — this sort of pale visage that could resemble a human or not."Hill, Fangoria interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. Many of the actors wore their own clothes, and Curtis' wardrobe was purchased at J. C. Penney for around a hundred dollars. The limited budget also dictated the filming location and time schedule. Halloween was filmed in 20 days in the spring of 1978 in South Pasadena, California and the cemetery at Sierra Madre, California. An abandoned house owned by a church stood in as the Myers house. Two homes on Orange Grove Avenue (near Sunset Boulevard) in Hollywood were used for the film's climax. The crew had difficulty finding pumpkins in the spring, and artificial fall leaves had to be reused for multiple scenes. Local families dressed their children in Halloween costumes for trick-or-treat scenes. In August 2006, Fangoria reported that Synapse Films had discovered boxes of negatives containing footage cut from the film. One was labeled "1981" suggesting that it was additional footage for the television version of the film. Synapse owner Don May, Jr. said, "What we've got is pretty much all the unused original camera negative from Carpenter's original Halloween. Luckily, Billy Kirkus was able to find this material before it was destroyed. The story on how we got the negative is a long one, but we'll save it for when we're able to showcase the materials in some way. Kirkus should be commended for pretty much saving the Holy Grail of horror films.""Synapse Finds Complete Halloween Negatives," August 29, 2006, at Fangoria; last accessed September 3, 2006. It was later reported, "We just learned from Sean Clark, long time Halloween genius, that the footage found is just that: footage. There is no sound in any of the reels so far, since none of it was used in the final edit.""Holy Grail of Halloween Footage Found" at Dread Central; last accessed on September 3, 2006. Writing Yablans and Akkad ceded most of the creative control to writers Carpenter and Hill (whom Carpenter wanted as producer), but Yablans did offer several suggestions. According to a Fangoria interview with Hill, "Yablans wanted the script written like a radio show, with 'boos' every 10 minutes." Hill explained that the script took three weeks to write and much of the inspiration behind the plot came from Celtic traditions of Halloween such as the festival of Samhain. Although Samhain is not mentioned in the plot of the first film, Hill asserts that: Hill wrote most of the female characters' dialogue, while Carpenter drafted Loomis' speeches on the evilness of Michael Myers. Many script details were drawn from Carpenter's and Hill's adolescence and early careers. The fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois was derived from Haddonfield, New Jersey, where Hill grew up, and most of the street names were taken from Carpenter's hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Laurie Strode was the name of one of Carpenter's old girlfriends and Michael Myers was the name of an English producer who had previously entered, with Yablans, Assault on Precinct 13 in various European film festivals. In Halloween, Carpenter pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock with two characters' names; Tommy Doyle is named after Lt. Det. Thomas J. Doyle (Wendell Corey) of Rear Window (1954), and Dr. Loomis' name was taken from Sam Loomis (John Gavin) of Psycho, the boyfriend of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh, who is the real-life mother of Jamie Lee Curtis). Sheriff Leigh Brackett shared the name of a film screenwriter. Casting The cast of Halloween included veteran actor Donald Pleasence and then-unknown actress Jamie Lee Curtis. The low budget limited the number of big names that Carpenter could attract, and most of the actors received very little compensation for their roles. Pleasence was paid the highest amount at $20,000, Curtis received $8,000, and Nick Castle earned $25 a day. The role of Dr. Loomis was offered to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee; both declined the part due to the low pay (though Lee would later tell Carpenter that declining the role was his biggest career mistake). English actor Pleasence — Carpenter's third choice — agreed to star. Pleasence has been called "John Carpenter's big landing." Americans were already acquainted with Pleasence as the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967).Pleasence casting information at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. In an interview, Carpenter admits that "Jamie Lee wasn't the first choice for Laurie. I had no idea who she was. She was 19 and in a TV show at the time, but I didn't watch TV." He originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart from Lassie, as Laurie Strode. However, Lockhart had commitments to several other film and television projects.Carpenter interview. Hill says of learning that Jamie Lee was the daughter of Psycho actress Janet Leigh, "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in Psycho." Halloween was Curtis' feature film debut and launched her career as a "scream queen" horror star. Another relatively unknown actress, (credited in the film as Nancy Loomis) was cast as Laurie's friend Annie Brackett, daughter of Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers). Kyes had previously starred in Assault on Precinct 13 (as had Cyphers) and happened to be dating Halloween's art director Tommy Lee Wallace when filming began.Nancy Loomis casting information at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. Carpenter chose P. J. Soles to play Lynda Van Der Klok, another friend of Laurie's, best remembered in the film for dialogue peppered with the word "totally." Soles was an actress known for her supporting role in Carrie (1976) and her minor part in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976). According to one source, "Carpenter realized she had captured the aura of a happy go lucky teenage girl in the 70s."P. J. Soles casting information at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006 The role of "The Shape" — as the masked Michael Myers character was billed in the end credits — was played by Nick Castle, who befriended Carpenter while they attended the University of Southern California. After Halloween, Castle became a director, taking the helm of films such as (1984), (1986), Dennis the Menace (1993), and Major Payne (1995).Nick Castle casting information at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. Direction Historian Nicholas Rogers notes that film critics contend that Carpenter's direction and camera work made Halloween a "resounding success".Nicholas Rogers, Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 111, ISBN 0-19-516896-8. Roger Ebert remarks, "It's easy to create violence on the screen, but it's hard to do it well. Carpenter is uncannily skilled, for example, at the use of foregrounds in his compositions, and everyone who likes thrillers knows that foregrounds are crucial ...."Roger Ebert, review of Halloween, Chicago Sun-Times, October 31, 1979, at RogerEbert.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. The opening title, featuring a jack-o'-lantern placed against a black backdrop, sets the mood for the entire film. The camera slowly moves toward the jack-o'-lantern's left eye as the main title theme plays. After the camera fully closes in, the jack-o'-lantern's light dims and goes out. Film historian J.P. Telotte says that this scene "clearly announces that film's primary concern will be with the way in which we see ourselves and others and the consequences that often attend our usual manner of perception".J.P. Telotte, "Through a Pumpkin's Eye: The Reflexive Nature of Horror," in Gregory Waller, ed., American Horrors: Essays on the Modern American Horror Film (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992), p. 116, ISBN 0-252-01448-0. During the conception of the plot, Yablans instructed "that the audience shouldn't see anything. It should be what they thought they saw that frightens them". Carpenter seemingly took Yablans' advice literally, filming many of the scenes from Michael Myers's point-of-view that allowed audience participation. Carpenter is not the first director to employ this method or use of a steadicam; for instance, the first scene of Psycho offers a voyeuristic look at lovers in a seedy hotel. Telotte argues, "As a result of this shift in perspective from a disembodied, narrative camera to an actual character's eye ... we are forced into a deeper sense of participation in the ensuing action".Telotte, "Through a Pumpkin's Eye," pp. 116 – 117. Along with the 1974 Canadian horror film Black Christmas, Halloween made use of seeing events through the killer's eyes. The first scene of the young Michael's voyeurism is followed by the murder of Judith seen through the eye holes of Michael's clown costume mask. According to one commentator, Carpenter's "frequent use of the unmounted first-person camera to represent the killer's point of view ... invited viewers to adopt the murderer's assaultive gaze and to hear his heavy breathing and plodding footsteps as he stalked his prey".Rogers, Halloween, p. 111. Another technique that Carpenter adapted from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) was suspense with minimal blood and gore. Hill comments, "We didn't want it to be gory. We wanted it to be like a jack-in-the box." Film analysts refer to this as the "false startle" or "the old tap-on-the-shoulder routine" in which the stalkers, murderers, or monsters "lunge into our field of vision or creep up on a person."David Scott Diffrient, "A Film is Being Beaten: Notes on the Shock Cut and the Material Violence of Horror," in Steffen Hantke, Horror Film: Creating and Marketing Fear (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004), p. 61, ISBN 1-57806-692-1. Carpenter worked with the cast to create the desired effect of terror and suspense. According to Curtis, Carpenter created a "fear meter" because the film was shot out-of-sequence and she was not sure what her character's level of terror should be in certain scenes. "Here's about a 7, here's about a 6, and the scene we're going to shoot tonight is about a 9½", remembered Curtis. She had different facial expressions and scream volumes for each level on the meter.Curtis interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. Carpenter's direction for Castle in his role as Myers was minimal. For example, when Castle asked what Myers' motivation was for a particular scene, Carpenter replied that his motivation was to walk from one set marker to another. The documentary titled Halloween Un-masked, featured in the 22nd anniversary DVD of Halloween, John Carpenter states he also instructed Castle to tilt his head a couple of times as if he was observing the corpse, particularly in the scene when Myers impaled one of his victims against a wall. Music Another major reason for the success of Halloween is the moody musical score, particularly the main theme. Lacking a symphonic soundtrack, the film's score consists of a piano melody played in a 10/8 or "complex 5/4" meter composed and performed by director John Carpenter. Critic James Berardinelli calls the score "relatively simple and unsophisticated", but admits that "Halloween's music is one of its strongest assets". Carpenter stated in an interview, "I can play just about any keyboard, but I can't read or write a note." In the end credits, Carpenter bills himself as the "Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra" for performing the film's score, but he did receive assistance from composer Dan Wyman, a music professor at San José State University.Dan Wyman's faculty website at Dr. Daniel Wyman — San José State University; last accessed September 23, 2010. Some songs can be heard in the film, one being an untitled song performed by Carpenter and a group of his friends who formed a band called The Coupe DeVilles. The song is heard as Laurie steps into Annie's car on her way to babysit Tommy Doyle. Another song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by classic rock band Blue Öyster Cult, appears in the film.Halloween Soundtrack information from HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. The soundtrack was first released in the United States in October 1983, by Varese Sarabande. It was subsequently released on compact disc in 1985, re-released in 1990, and again in 2000. Release , Nov. 6, 1978: only known, published window for date of film's New York City premiere ("Held over...2nd week")]] Theatrical run ''Halloween premiered on October 25, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri (at the AMC Midland/Empire) and sometime afterward in Chicago, Illinois, and in New York City. It had its Los Angeles debut October 27, 1978.Distribution at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. It opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 22, 1978.Anderson, Geroge. "Low-Budget 'Halloween' on Thanksgiving: More in the Way of a Trick Than a Treat", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 23, 1978. "Opening yesterday at the Gateway, Downtown, the Cinemette East in Monroeville and the Showcase West in Robinson Township...." The film grossed $47 million in the United States and an additional $23 million internationally, making the theatrical total $70 million. On September 7, 2012, the official HalloweenMovies Facebook page announced that the original Halloween would be theatrically re-released starting October 25, 2012 in celebration of the film's 35th anniversary in 2013. Screening before the film at all locations with a new documentary entitled, You Can't Kill the Boogeyman: 35 Years of Halloween, written and directed by HalloweenMovies.com webmaster Justin Beahm. Television rights In 1980, the television rights to Halloween were sold to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for $4 million. After a debate among Carpenter, Hill and NBC's Standards and Practices over censoring of certain scenes, Halloween appeared on television for the first time in October 1981. To fill the two-hour time slot, Carpenter filmed twelve minutes of additional material during the production of Halloween II. The newly filmed scenes include Dr. Loomis at a hospital board review of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis talking to a then 6-year-old Michael at Smith's Grove, telling him, "You've fooled them, haven't you Michael? But not me." Another extra scene features Dr. Loomis at Smith's Grove examining Michael's abandoned cell after his escape and seeing the word "Sister" scratched into the door. Finally, a scene was added in which Lynda comes over to Laurie's house to borrow a silk blouse before Laurie leaves to babysit, just as Annie telephones asking to borrow the same blouse. The new scene had Laurie's hair hidden by a towel, since Curtis was by then wearing a much shorter hairstyle than she had worn in 1978. The television scenes were released on a two-tape "limited-edition" VHS set of the film and the television version of the film was released on a second disc in the two-disc "limited-edition" DVD release of the film in 1999, by-itself in 2001 as Halloween: Extended Edition on VHS and DVD and as part of the Halloween: 30th Anniversary Commemorative Set along with the original Halloween on DVD and Blu-ray, disc one from the 25 Years of Terror documentary DVD and the DiviMax special editions of two of its sequels: 4: The Revenge and 5: The Revenge in 2008. Home video release Since Halloween s premiere, it has been released on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, UMD and Blu-ray HD format. Early VHS versions were released by Media Home Entertainment and Blockbuster Video issued a commemorative edition in 1995. Anchor Bay Entertainment (succeder in-interest to Media Home Entertainment and Video Treasures) has released several restored editions of Halloween on VHS and DVD, with the most recent being the 2007 single-disc restored version, with improved picture and sound quality. Anchor Bay has also released an "extended edition" of Halloween that features the original theatrical release with the scenes that were shot for the broadcast TV version edited in at their proper places. In 2003, the film was released on a two-disc "25th Anniversary edition" with improved DiviMax picture and audio, along with an audio commentary by John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis and Debra Hill, the A Cut Above The Rest documentary, On Location: 25 Years Later featurette, the trailer, TV spots, radio spots, poster and still gallery, and DVD-ROM content. In 2007, the movie was released on Blu-ray as well, marking the film's first ever Blu-ray release. The Blu-ray features a commentary track by Carpenter, Hill and Curtis, the trailer, TV spots, radio spots, fast film facts and the documentary Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest. In 2008, a "30th Anniversary commemorative set" was released, containing the film on DVD and Blu-ray along with the "extended edition", the first disc from the 25 Years of Terror documentary DVD and two of its sequels: 4: The Return and 5: The Revenge, including a collectible replica Michael Myers mask. The DVD release was THX certified. The film has made $18,500,000 in home video rentals. Many fans prefer the 1999 two-disc limited-edition and the 2003 two-disc 25th anniversary edition due to the 1999 edition including the theatrical and television versions along with a disc-full of special features and the 25th anniversary edition due to it including more special feature with remastered picture and audio quality. Reception Critical reception Critical response to the film was mostly positive. Although Halloween performed well with little advertising — relying mostly on word-of-mouth — many critics seemed uninterested or dismissive of the film. Pauline Kael wrote a scathing review in The New Yorker suggesting that "Carpenter doesn't seem to have had any life outside the movies: one can trace almost every idea on the screen to directors such as Hitchcock and Brian De Palma and to the Val Lewton productions" and claiming that "Maybe when a horror film is stripped of everything but dumb scariness — when it isn't ashamed to revive the stalest device of the genre (the escaped lunatic) — it satisfies part of the audience in a more basic, childish way than sophisticated horror pictures do."Pauline Kael, review of Halloween, The New Yorker, 1978, at TheManWiththeHypnoticEye.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. The first glowing review by a prominent film critic came from Tom Allen of The Village Voice in November 1978, Allen noted that the film was sociologically irrelevant but applauded Carpenter's camera work as "duplicitous hype" and "the most honest way to make a good schlock film". Allen pointed out the stylistic similarities to Psycho and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).Allen, Tom, "The Sleeper That's Here to Stay", The Village Voice, November 6, 1978, pp. 67, 70. While the review gives no New York City premiere date or specific theater, a display advertisement on page 72 reads: "Held over! 2nd week of horror! At a Flagship Theatre near you". Per the movie listings on pages 82, 84 and 85, respectively, it played at four since-defunct theaters: the Essex, located at 375 Grand Street in Chinatown, per Cinema Treasures: Essex Theatre; the RKO 86th Street Twin, on East 86th Street near Lexington Avenue; the Rivoli, located at 1620 Broadway, in the Times Square area, per Cinema Treasures: Rivoli Theatre; and the Times Square Theater, located at 217 West 42nd Street, per Treasures:Times Square TheaterAllen, Tom. "Halloween" (November 1978 review), reprinted at Criterion.com, "The , Online Cinematheque" The following month, Voice lead critic wrote a follow-up feature on cult films, citing Allen's appraisal of Halloween and saying in the lead sentence that the film "bids fair to become the cult discovery of 1978. Audiences have been heard screaming at its horrifying climaxes".Sarris, Andrew. "Those Wild and Crazy Cult Movies", The Village Voice, December 18, 1978. Renowned American critic Roger Ebert gave the film similar praise in his 1979 review in the Chicago Sun-Times, and selected it as one of his top ten films of 1978. Once-dismissive critics were impressed by Carpenter's choice of camera angles and simple music, and surprised by the lack of blood, gore, and graphic violence. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports 93% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based on 45 reviews, with a rating of 8.4 out of 10.Halloween at Rotten Tomatoes; last accessed May 19, 2008. Many compared the film with the work of Alfred Hitchcock, although TV Guide calls comparisons made to Psycho "silly and groundless"[http://www.tvguide.com/movies/halloween/review/125497 Halloween (review)], TVGuide.com Movie Database; last accessed May 19, 2008. and critics in the late 1980s and early 1990s blame the film for spawning the slasher sub genre, which they felt had rapidly descended into sadism and misogyny.Rogers, Halloween, pp. 117 – 118. Almost a decade after its premiere, Mick Martin and Marsha Porter critiqued the first-person camera shots that earlier film reviewers had praised and later slasher-film directors utilized for their own films (for example, Friday the 13th (1980)). Claiming it encouraged audience identification with the killer, Martin and Porter pointed to the way "the camera moves in on the screaming, pleading, victim, 'looks down' at the knife, and then plunges it into chest, ear, or eyeball. Now that's sick." More than 30 years after its debut, Halloween enjoys a reputation as a classic and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1978. Themes and analysis Many criticisms of Halloween and other slasher films come from postmodern academia. Some feminist critics, according to historian Nicholas Rogers, "have seen the slasher movies since Halloween as debasing women in as decisive a manner as hard-core pornography." Critics such as John Kenneth Muir point out that female characters such as Laurie Strode survive not because of "any good planning" or their own resourcefulness, but sheer luck. Although she manages to repel the killer several times, in the end, Strode is rescued in Halloween and Halloween II only when Dr. Loomis arrives to shoot Myers.John Kenneth Muir, Wes Craven: The Art of Horror (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 1998), p. 104, ISBN 0-7864-1923-7. On the other hand, other feminist scholars such as Carol J. Clover argue that despite the violence against women, slasher films turned women into heroines. In many pre-''Halloween'' horror films, women are depicted as helpless victims and are not safe until they are rescued by a strong masculine hero. Despite the fact that Loomis saves Strode, Clover asserts that Halloween initiates the role of the "final girl" who ultimately triumphs in the end. Strode herself fought back against Myers and severely wounds him. Had Myers been a normal man, Strode's attacks would have killed him; even Loomis, the male hero of the story, who shoots Michael repeatedly at near point blank range with a large caliber handgun, cannot kill him.Carol J. Clover, : Gender in the Modern Horror Film (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992), p. 189, ISBN 0-691-00620-2. Aviva Briefel argued that moments such as when Michael loses his mask are meant to give pleasure to the male viewer. Briefel further argues that these moments are masochistic in nature and give pleasure to men because they are willingly submitting themselves to the women of the film; they submit themselves temporarily because it will make their return to authority even more powerful.Aviva Briefel, “Monster Pains: Masochism, Menstruation, and Identification in the Horror Film,” Film Quarterly, 58:3, (Spring 2005), 17-18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/fq.2005.58.3.16. Critics, such as Pat Gill, see Halloween as a critique of American social values. She remarks that parental figures are almost entirely absent throughout the film, noting that when Laurie is attacked by Michael while babysitting, “No parents, either of the teenagers or of the children left in their charge, call to check on their children or arrive to keen over them.”Pat Gill, “The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family,” Journal of Film and Video, 54:4, (Winter 2002), 22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688391. Another major theme found in the film is the dangers of pre-marital sex. Clover believes that killers in slasher films are fueled by a “psychosexual fury”Carol Clover, “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film,” Representations 20, (Autumn, 1987), 194. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2928507. and that all the killings are sexual in nature. She reinforces this idea by saying that “guns have no place in slasher films...” and when examining the film I Spit on Your Grave she notes that “a hands-on killing answers a hands-on rape in a way that a shooting, even a shooting preceded by a humiliation, does not.”Carol Clover, “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film,” Representations 20, (Autumn, 1987), 198. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2928507. Equating sex with violence is important in Halloween and the slasher genre. Generally. Pat Gill makes notes of this in her essay “The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family” when she remarks that Laurie’s friends “think of their babysitting jobs as opportunities to share drinks and beds with their boyfriends. One by one they are killed... by Michael Myers an asylum escapee who years ago at the age of six murdered his sister for preferring sex to taking care of him.” The danger of suburbia is another major theme that runs throughout the movie and the slasher genre itself, Pat Gill remarks that slasher films “seem to mock white flight to gated communities, in particular the attempts of parents to shield their children from the dangerous influences represented by the city...”Pat Gill, “The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family,” Journal of Film and Video, 54:4, (Winter 2002), 16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688391. Halloween and slasher films, generally, are supposed to represent the underside of suburbia. Michael Myers was raised in a suburban household and after he escapes the mental hospital he returns to his hometown to kill again; Myers is a product of the suburban environment. Carpenter himself dismisses the notion that Halloween is a morality play, regarding it as merely a horror movie. According to Carpenter, critics "completely missed the point there." He explains, "The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy." The usage of Myers' white mask also poses analytical thought on several levels. For one, the mask (actually a debased William Shatner mask) is used as a concealing agent for Michael that helps keep his identity and mystery alive and fearful to others. Furthermore, the white blank austerity of the mask helps personify Michael as an emotionless, sociopathic killer who is incapable of feeling remorse for his actions, and therefore, does not exhibit such on his face. In a way, the lifelessness of the mask (it being a mere object that is devoid of human qualities) mirrors Michael's personality, in that, he too is blank, emotionless and ultimately cold to life or death. Also, the white mask characterizes Michael as a universal character, with anyone's face being transplantable onto it. The mask is merely an open canvas that Carpenter uses to invite viewers to paint their own killer on to make Michael's character more personal, and scarier, to each viewer. Awards Halloween was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film by the in 1979, but lost to The Wicker Man (1973).Saturn Award Nominees and Winners, 1979 at Internet Movie Database; last accessed April 19, 2006. In 2001, Halloween ranked #68 on the American Film Institute TV program 100 Years...100 Thrills. The film was #14 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments (2004). Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 3rd scariest film ever made. In 2006, Halloween was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2007, the AOL 31 Days of Horror countdown named Halloween the greatest horror movie.31 Days of Horror Countdown; accessed February 23, 2008. In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. In 2010, Total Film selected the film as one of The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time. American Film Institute Lists *AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #68 *AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains: ** Michael Myers – Nominated Villain *AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated Influence Halloween is a widely influential film within the horror genre; it was largely responsible for the popularization of slasher films in the 1980s. Halloween popularized many tropes that have become completely synonymous with the slasher genre. Halloween helped to popularize the final girl trope, killing off characters who are substance abusers or sexually promiscuous, as well as the use of a theme song for the killer. Carpenter also shot many scenes from the perspective of the killer in order to build tension. These elements have become so established that many historians argue that Halloween is responsible for the new wave of horror that emerged during the 1980s.Carol Clover, Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (Princetom: Princeton University Press, 1993), 24.Ian Conrich, “Killing Time and Time Again: The Popular Appeal of Carpenters Horror’s and the Impact of the Thing and Halloween,” in The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror, ed. Ian Conrich, and David Woods (Wallflower Press, 2005), 92. Due to its popularity, Halloween became a blueprint for success that many other horror films, such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, would follow. The major themes present in Halloween would also become common in the slasher films it inspired. Film scholar Pat Gill notes that in Halloween, there is a theme of absentee parents but films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th feature the parents becoming directly responsible for the creation of the killer.Pat Gill, Journal of Film and Video, 54:4, (Winter 2002), 26. “The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family,”. There are slasher films that predated Halloween, such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Black Christmas which contained prominent elements of the slasher genre; both involving a group of teenagers being murdered by a stranger as well having the final girl trope. Halloween, however, is seen by historians as being responsible for the new wave of horror films because it not only used these tropes but also pioneered many others. The 1981 horror film spoof Student Bodies parodied these plot devices; characters are slain when about to engage in sex. Another slasher film with a twist was the 1986 film, April Fool's Day. Director Wes Craven's 1996 film Scream and its three sequels detail the "rules" for surviving a horror film, even using Halloween as the primary example: no sex, no alcohol or illicit drugs, and never say "I'll be right back". Adaptations Curtis Richards penned a mass market paperback novelization of the same name which was published by Bantam Books in 1979. It was reissued in 1982; it later went out of print. The novel elaborates on aspects not featured in the film such as the origins of the curse of Samhain and Michael Myers's life in Smith's Grove Sanitarium. For example, the opening reads: The horror started on the eve of Samhain, in a foggy vale in northern Ireland, at the dawn of the Celtic race. And once started, it trod the earth forevermore, wreaking its savagery suddenly, swiftly, and with incredible ferocity.Curtis Richards, Halloween (Bantam Books, 1979), ISBN 0-553-13226-1; 1982 reissue ISBN 0-553-26296-3. In 1983, Halloween was adapted as a video game for the Atari 2600 by Wizard Video. None of the main characters in the game were named. Players take on the role of a teenage babysitter who tries to save as many children from an unnamed, knife-wielding killer as possible. The game was not popular with parents or players and the graphics were simple, as was typical in Atari 2600 games. In another effort to save money, most versions of the game did not even have a label on the cartridge. It was simply a piece of tape with "Halloween" written in marker. The game contained more gore than the film, however. When the babysitter is killed, her head disappears and is replaced by blood pulsating from the neck. The game's primary similarity to the film is the theme music that plays when the killer appears onscreen.Review of Halloween video game at X-Entertainment.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.Gregory D. George, "History of Horror: A Primer of Horror Games for Your Atari" at The Atari Times; last accessed April 19, 2006. Sequels and remake Halloween spawned seven sequels, a 2007 remake of the same name directed by — and a 2009 sequel to the remake, Halloween II, which is unrelated to the sequel of the original.HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed May 19, 2008. Of these films, only Halloween II (1981) was written by Carpenter and Hill. Halloween II begins exactly where Halloween ends and was intended to finish the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Halloween II was hugely successful, becoming the highest grossing horror film of 1981. Carpenter did not direct any of the subsequent films in the Halloween series, although he did produce Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), the plot of which is unrelated to the other films in the series.Behind the Scenes of Halloween III: Season of the Witch at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006. He also composed the music for the second and third films, along with Alan Howarth. After the negative critical reception for Season of the Witch, the filmmakers brought back Michael Myers in The Return of Michael Myers. The sequels feature more explicit violence and gore, and are generally dismissed by mainstream film critics. They were filmed on larger budgets than the original: In contrast to Halloween s modest budget of $320,000, Halloween II s budget was around $2.5 million,Business statistics for Halloween II at Internet Movie Database; last accessed April 19, 2006. while the final sequel to the original, Resurrection (2002), boasted a budget of $15 million.Business statistics for Halloween: Resurrection at Internet Movie Database; last accessed April 19, 2006. Financier Moustapha Akkad continued to work closely with the Halloween franchise, acting as executive producer of every sequel until his death in the 2005 Amman bombings.[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1502762/Moustapha-Akkad.html "Moustapha Akkad (obituary)"]. The Daily Telegraph (London). November 12, 2005. Retrieved April 19, 2006. With the exception of Halloween III, the sequels further develop the character of Michael Myers and the Samhain theme. Even without considering the third film, the Halloween series contains continuity issues, which some sources attribute to the different writers and directors involved in each film."Rob Zombie interview". HalloweenMovies.com. June 16, 2006. Retrieved April 19, 2006. The 10 Halloween films, including the 2007 remake and its sequel, have had eight directors. Only Rick Rosenthal and Rob Zombie directed more than one: Rosenthal directed Halloween II and Halloween: Resurrection, while Zombie directed the remake and its sequel. References ;Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * * External links *[http://www.halloweenmovies.com Official website of the Halloween series] * *Filming locations and photos by director David Winning Category:Movies Category:Theatrical releases Category:1978 releases Category:Award-nominated specials Category:Horror movies